Last winter, I couldn't say the Kansas City Royals' moves scared me, but beyond the stating of facts -- recent histories of Kendrys Morales and Alex Rios, for instance -- I kept stronger reactions in check. They defied skeptics all the way to Game 7 of the World Series in 2014, and that earned them some benefit of the doubt.
After knocking off the Mets in five games in this year's World Series, the Royals now have all of it. They were impervious to Rios' worst, so I couldn't really laugh if they replaced Alex Gordon with Gordon Beckham.